


Provoked by Impulse

by SStickperson



Category: Final Fantasy 3, Final Fantasy III
Genre: Bullies, Friends to Lovers, Impulse Control, Impulse Potion, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:08:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27994266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SStickperson/pseuds/SStickperson
Summary: The past is bound to repeat itself. But Refia, Ingus, Luneth, and Arc are a family: they'll overcome anything-particularly when Arc is the target. Though, perhaps going to Ur wasn't the best idea, given Luneth's past with the bullies.
Relationships: Arc/Luneth
Kudos: 4





	Provoked by Impulse

**Author's Note:**

> Orginally taken from Blackstory's "Besotted" on fanfiction.net. She gave me the okay to use her idea. So I took it... and ran with it. A lot. I first posted this story on ff.net, but revamped and revised it. Lemme know what you think?

“What’s your biggest fear?” It was an innocuous question, whispered in the dead of night so finely that no one was quite sure who said it at first. They shifted in their beds, wondering who would speak first.

“Why?” came the resounding voice, just as quiet, afraid to disrupt the tentative blanket of sleep that tried to pull them under.

“Well, now I’m curious,” came the strong female voice, a little louder. “We’re on a mission to save the world, and I know that it’s not Xande that I’m afraid of.”

There was laughter, quiet chuckling, nonsensical murmurs.

“You got that right. It’s nothing like that.” Boyish, confident.

“Oh yeah?” Taunting, teasing. “So what is the great and fearless Luneth afraid of?”

“I’ll tell you if Ingus shares his,” came the witty retort.

“That which I fear most, Refia?”

“Uh-huh.”

There was a shifting on one of the beds.

“It is… that Lady Sara’s hand will be given to another.”

There was a squeal from the bed a few feet away. “How cute!”

“C—cute?” they could hear the scowl in his voice.

“That’s so romantic!” Refia gushed. “You’ll get married to her! I know so! You can even scoop her up and carry her away on the Invincible! You two will make adorable babies!”

“Re—Refia!”

“Your turn, Luneth!”

There was silence.

“Luneth?”

“Do I have to answer?”

“I told you mine, Luneth. Keep your word.”

There was more silence. “My biggest fear?”

“Mm-hm,” Refia said, shifting on her bed.

Luneth sighed heavily. “That I’ll lose Arc.”

No response came for several minutes.

“Lose Arc?”

“You can’t tell me that you don’t see how smart he is. He’s probably gonna return to some kingdom and become a scholar and master black magic and learn everything and leave me behind. I… really just want to stay by his side, even as I wander.”

“I think that’s beautiful,” came the soft response.

“It’s pathetic. Trust me: I know. You don’t have to lie, Refia,” he said, shaking his head, shifting on the bed to look at the others.

“I’m not! It’s so awesome you two love each other like that.”

An ornery grunt, a frustrated noise. “Why does everyone think that we’re boyfriends? He had a bad accident with bugbears a long time ago—” There was a pause as the fourth bed creaked, and his eyes glanced over to the slumbering form. Not waking, just adjusting. “I—I stepped away for a while, and he…”

“So then is Arc’s greatest fear is bugbears?” Refia murmured, glancing at the bed as if afraid he would spring awake.

“It would explain a lot about him.”

“No!” Luneth snapped, freezing when the fourth bed let a ruffling sound loose. “I… It’s…”

Refia shifted in the dark. “What is it?”

“It sounds really conceited.”

“Go ahead. Ingus won’t tease you, will he?”

“On my honor, consider it done.”

“Fine.” He exhaled loudly and flopped on his back, running a hand through his hair while it was loose. “It’s—It’s my rejection.”

“Rejection?”

“From anything.”

“What?” Ingus pressed, confused.

“I… I don’t know how to explain it! Like, in Ur, we always slept together, every night. I’d cancel plans to come back and crawl in bed with him. And I could tell it. I can feel it in the way he curls up in my side at night. But anyway, with the bullies and everything—a lot of kids thought he was weird ‘cause he was so smart, but the triplet bullies were the worst—I don’t think he’d be here today if I hadn’t stepped in and helped him. So he’s always stuck by me, and I’ve tried to make sure that I do what he wants because I know that he won’t necessarily ask for it, and I just…” he was frustrated, letting out a strangled noise.

There was a creaking as Luneth stood as Ingus began to speak.

“Really, Luneth, you make Arc sound as if he’s incapable of taking care of himself. I am not surprised that the bullies were so apt to destroy him. It only reinforce—”

A gagging sound, a snarl, and a gasp were heard in sharp succession. Refia looked over to te bed to see Luneth attempting to smother Ingus with a pillow.

“Don’t even go there, dragoon. Jump all you want, but when you land, the darkness will crush you.”

“Luneth!”

“I’m going to bed,” Luneth growled and fell silent, quickly moving to his bed and rolling onto his side to face the wall.

A few hours later, the occupant of the fourth bed stood up and walked over, silent on his feet and hesitating. He jumped when the bedcovers were lifted, and bright purple eyes met his. He could feel his cheeks heating up.

“I knew you’d come over—don’t blush!”

“H—How did you—”

“Know? Arc, I can read you like you can read a book.”

There was a bit of shuffling as he moved closer, hesitantly crawling in beside his friend. It was… nice to have another person beside him. Part of him wondered if maybe, just maybe, they could be something more than friends. He quashed that warm, fluttery feeling in his stomach as he watched Luneth settle down. He couldn’t risk it.

“Climb in. It’s cold in this blasted ship.”

There was a yelp as a board fell from the roof and landed on Luneth. Arc giggled softly.

“You really shouldn’t insult it, Luneth.”

“Yeah, talking crystals and evil airships. Bet you never thought I’d get us into an adventure like this, huh?”

There was a murmur of agreement as Arc curled up beside him. Luneth rested his chin on top of Arc’s head, arms sliding around his waist to spoon him. This was what love was, right? He wanted to believe, truly wanted to believe, that maybe, eventually, somehow, they could be together forever.

“We’ll be back in Ur soon before our final battle.”

Arc nodded, and Luneth was silent for a moment.

“Don’t worry: the others won’t touch you.”

Arc jolted awake the next morning to feel of Luneth holding him close and whispering in his ear. He tried to push away from him, but he was shaking so violently his limbs refused to cooperate. He wasn’t sure what happened, but there was pain and darkness and suddenly everything was lit up. Noises spilled from his throat as he struggled against the arms holding him. He caught a flash of silver hair, a wiff of familiar scent, a strong heartbeat.

“Hey, hey, calm down. It was just a dream.” A familiar voice. He gasped for air, turning to bury himself in his arms, tucking his face into a warm neck as his muscles seized from the pain of whatever terror plagued him. Strong legs wrapped around his, strong arms holding him close. A steady heartbeat beneath his fingers. He was safe; he was _safe_ ; _he was safe_.

“What happened?” came the quiet words, calm, assured, safe.

“I—I don’t kn—know,” he said. “I—I don’t—‘t remember.”

Luneth hummed, a pleasing noise and a comforting rumble deep in his chest that rolled through Arc’s body, lulling it into a stupefied trance as he took in the steady sound of Luneth breathing and his heart beating. He closed his eyes and relaxed into the embrace, feeling the ship rock as it sped toward Ur for one last stop before the crystal tower.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he heard Refia wake.

“Morning, Arc, morning Lune—wait, why is Arc in your bed?”

“Night terror,” Luneth said, not moving except to card a hand through the smaller man’s hair.

“About?”

“You don’t remember night terrors.”

Refia paused, looking at the two. “Let me get you breakfast. Is that okay?”

Luneth hummed quietly. “Are you ready for breakfast, Arc?”

He curled tighter against his friend, and the dark knight slowly lured the mage into sitting up. It bothered him that Arc wouldn’t even meet his eyes, but given that he was still practically plastered against his side, he would consider it a win. Small steps. As Refia walked back over with a tray in her hands, Arc glanced up, his breathing almost normal again.

“Where’s Ingus?” Luneth asked when he took the tray.

“He went out to the deck earlier, I guess.”

Arc took the bowl, staring at its contents. It took a few minutes for it to completely register that he had food.

“What? This stuff again? Come on, for an almighty ship, you sure pick lousy food! Arc cooks a decillion times better than this!”

Luneth banged a fist against the wall behind him, and Arc smiled lightly when the ship got his friend with another roofing board. Luneth rubbed his head and yelled at the ship in return, but the ship chose to be silent. With a huff, the knight went to take a bite of the oatmeal-like substance, when the ship lurched violently and caused him to smush the meal all over the bottom of his face. Luneth began a tirade against the ship as he cleaned his face off, but was stopped by Arc.

“You really shouldn’t speak ill of the ship,” Arc whispered, and the only thing that calmed the knight was the way that the mage’s lips pulled into a small, shy smile.

“But—”

“If you bad-mouth it, it’s never gonna let Refia and me finish the meal.”

“Fine,” Luneth sighed, perhaps a bit over the top but completely and totally deserved, “but if I stop, you’re cooking the next meal—even if we have to land, and I’ve got to hunt.”

“Okay.”

Luneth settled back down against the wall and took a bite, finishing his meal quickly. Arc had hardly eaten a fourth of his by the time his friend set the bowl down and wrapped an arm around him. A few minutes after, Ingus returned. He made a bit of a face when he saw Luneth and Arc, but otherwise stayed silent as he sat on his own bed. The trip was silent for a few moments as Refia ate the last of her breakfast. After she finished, she set her bowl down.

“I know that look,” Luneth said warily. “You’re going to ask us a question, aren’t you?”

She grinned devilishly. “What’s the stupidest decision you ever made?”

The three young men looked at her.

“Are you serious?” Ingus asked, frowning, though his own curiosity was getting the better of him to hear what Luneth could possibly consider his stupidest stunt.

“Yup. We’re friends now, so it’s either this or truth or dare.”

Ingus crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall that his bed resided against. “Very well. I shall go first, easily. It was taking a shower on my first day as Lady Sara’s guard.”

“What?” Refia asked.

The three sets of eyes watched him closely.

“The others thought it would be amusing to take my clothing and replace it with a dress of Lady Sara’s. They threw them in the waters beneath the castle and had a black mage freeze the waters.”

Luneth burst into laughter. Now that was good. He would pay serious gil to see Ingus in a poofy princess dress!

“My deepest respect is for you, Arc,” Ingus continued. “I learned just what it means for a person to wield the elements both in power and pleasure.”

Arc stared at him in disbelief. “M—Me?”

“I have a healthy fear of your prowess.”

Luneth was crying from laughing so much as he wrapped an arm around Arc’s shoulder and pulled him close. “Hey, Arc, since you’ve got him terrified, if I ever need something from him…”

Arc sighed, trying to hide his smile, turning to derail it before Luneth got too caught up. “What’s your worst decision, Refia?”

“Me? Leaving my father.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I miss him a lot, but I wouldn’t trade this in for anything. I’ll go back to him and finish my apprenticeship after this.”

Arc smiled at her as Luneth sighed from being ignored.

“What’s yours, Luneth?” Refia asked.

Luneth looked shocked. “Mine?”

“Yup!”

“This should be interesting,” Ingus murmured, raising an eyebrow.

Luneth thought for a while. “It was beating up those bullies after Arc’s bearbug accident.”

“What is this ‘bearbug accident’ that you keep referring to?”

Luneth frowned. “That’s up to Arc to share, but after the accident, after Arc was healed enough to at least go sit in his flowerbed, the bullies tainted a potion with the impulse prank potion. I always kept a few near my door for whenever I’d go out exploring. They must have gotten into them when Nina was out and replaced it with an impulse potion. You ever heard of those?”

“No,” Refia said, cocking her head. “What are they?”

“They’re the potions that make you act upon your every instinct. If you drink enough of it, you can’t even remember what you did while the spell was on you. A single spell lasts about four hours. You’re nothing but pure impulse when you drink them. There’s a berry near Ur that looks kinda like the berries that you need for our potions, so it’s real easy to get them mixed up.”

“You are quite impulsive already,” Ingus muttered. “What would make such a drink any worse than normal?”

Luneth sent him an irritated glare. “I grabbed the potions to take with me while I was accompanying Arc to his field of flowers so that he could relax. He still had some serious injuries, but he was at least able to be carried to the flowers. Anyway, there was one bug that stung me, so I pulled out potion just to help with the pain since it wasn’t a serious adventure like normal. The bullies were one of the first things in my line of sight after it took effect, and the next thing I remember about them was all the blood.”

“Are you serious?” Refia gasped.

Luneth shrugged nonchalantly. He still didn’t feel bad about it all. “Topapa wasn’t pleased at all. They had to re-learn to walk by the time that I was done with them... Well, the three who survived.”

Ingus looked shocked. Luneth geared up for an argument, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the dragoon.

“You… murdered in cold blood?”

“It was an impulse potion! You can’t control what you do when you’re under that spell! I couldn’t help it! They were there, and I was mad for the stunt they pulled on Arc! It took everything I had as a kid to stop myself from beating them up every time I saw them! It was a dirty, evil thing they did!”

“But, killing two of the kids?” Refia stressed.

“And I’d do it again,” Luneth snarled.

There was a brief moment where Refia and Ingus looked at each other, wondering if their brother-in-arms hadn’t spent too much time as a dark knight at this point. They heard whisperings that such power often commanded a certain amount of darkness. Arc did a good job of digging up information in Falgabard about that job class. Maybe it was time for him to switch?

“It wasn’t his fault,” Arc cut in with a whisper. “It was mine for being stupid.”

“Arc,” Luneth shook his head, immediately pulling him closer as if to shield him from everything, “they deserved every hit. I don’t know why they became worse, rather than just leaving you alone. Probably revenge on me.”

“But I fell for it. I should’ve known.”

Luneth tightened his hold on Arc, “It wasn’t your fault.”

“What happened?” Ingus said as he shifted on the bed uncomfortably.

“I—They gave me a bearbug cub that was injured and crying. I stitched up the paw, and—and—” he flinched farther into his friend’s hold. “But the parents… they—they were close by, and …” He bunkered down a bit more, his voice quieting when he said, “Perhaps I should just—just show you.”

He began to pull off his coat, refusing to look at the other three.

“You don’t have too, Arc,” Refia said, rising to stop him.

“N—No.”

The coat dropped to the bed, and he pulled off the scarf around his neck and the sweater he wore. Refia gasped when she saw the rows of healed gashes running around his torso. Ingus’ eyes grew wide as he eyed the nasty looking scars crawling into Arc’s gloves and creeping up his neck. There were bite marks on his shoulder and disappearing into his pants.

Ingus wasn’t able to speak, and he had a heartbeat before the sweater and scarf were back on tightly. The boy was ashamed of his scars? He wasn’t usually one to believe in the need to murder, but these people… these bullies… it sounded more as if they deserved the fate that they got.

“They threw you around like a toy!” Refia shrieked as she ran over to him and hugged him tightly. “Oh, Arc! If I see them when we’re in Ur, I’m gonna kill the ones Luneth didn’t!”

Luneth chuckled as he helped Refia sandwich him between them. “See, Arc? We’re a family. We’ll watch out for you.”

“Just don’t give Luneth an impulse potion around me. I rather enjoy life,” she stage-whispered to him.

“I was ten then. It’s been years.”

“So you were nine when they got you? Oh, Arc, how did you survive?”

“Topapa has those magical springs,” Luneth said as he pried Refia off Arc to give him some breathing room. “But even those took a while to heal him to the point where we could move him.”

Refia nodded her head and let go, handing him his shirt. Ingus walked off to the window. To know that such people existed, to know that there were those who would so willingly torture someone just for the sake of shits and giggles… He became a knight to serve righteous, a Warrior of Light to better the world… and these were the people that he saved?

Refia stood in front of the two boys and placed her hands on her hips as she smiled gently. “We’ll watch out for you! While we’re in Ur, you’re never going to leave our sights, is that understood?”

Arc remained silent, but Refia wasn’t so easily deterred. She got down on her knees and took Arc’s hand. He jerked at the touch, leaning more into Luneth and finding solace and strength against him. It was only ever him. Despite what they’d gone through, it was always possible that newcomers would take advantage of him or bully him. He loved Luneth, perhaps too much.

“Like Luneth said, we’re a family now.” She smiled at him. “And, you’re a valuable part of our team. Once I finish my apprenticeship, I’ll come back and stay with you. And Ingus can steal Lady Sara away, and we can all live together somewhere—maybe Doga’s manor!”

Luneth grinned. “And see what happens when you touch the moogle’s red poofy ball.”

“Luneth,” Refia groaned.

Arc gave a slight smile and closed his eyes as he slowly let himself relax into Luneth’s arms. “Thank you.”

Refia smiled brightly. “It’s what family does! Consider it nothing.”

A few seconds later, Ingus came over from the window. “This is not the best of timing, given such revelations, but we’ve arrived at Ur.”

Luneth sighed. “But I was just getting comfortable.”

Arc bit his lip as Luneth wrapped his arm tighter around him. “We could just not go.”

“But didn’t you want to talk to Topapa? I know he means a lot to you,” Refia said.

Arc stood up, wringing his hands nervously as he looked about for his hat. “Yeah, I—I guess.”

Luneth stood beside him as they shuffled off. “You’ll be fine. ‘Sides, Topapa’s waiting to see us! He misses us.”

They entered the small village warily. A few kids were playing in the pathway, and several teenagers sat under a tree studying. Arc looked around cautiously, and upon deciding that the bullies were not around, he relaxed slightly and looked at the others. Luneth grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. He knew how much Topapa and Nina meant to Arc. It was good for him to get to see them once more before the biggest fight of their lives.

“Well, it certainly hasn’t changed from the boring place it was… is, I guess.” Luneth sighed and crossed his arms, looking at Arc. “Why do you like it here so much? It’s boring.”

“That’s no way to speak about your hometown.”

They turned to see Topapa standing there, leaning on his walking stick, a wry smile pulling at his expression.

“Topapa,” Arc said as he walked over and hugged him.

His hometown might have made him nervous, but he did love the two who raised him. Topapa returned the hug and gestured to the others.

“I always knew Luneth was destined for adventure. Are these the other two heroes of light?”

Ingus stepped forward and bowed at the waist before they started walking toward a house. “I am Ingus, sir. A guard for Lady Sara at Sa—”

“Sassoon castle. Ah, yes, I know it well. I do believe I almost sent you there, Arc, for a bit, to study?”

“Yes, Topapa, but it was decided I should stay here a while longer.”

“How old were you then?”

“I was eight.”

“Ah, right, I remember then. Luneth threw the biggest hissy fit that we ever saw.”

Luneth huffed, looking at the other two warriors of light. “I told him he couldn’t go to Sassoon castle without me. We would’ve explored it together.”

“I didn’t want to go to Sassoon castle without you,” Arc said softly.

Luneth grinned. “See? It would have been a great adventure!”

Refia bopped Luneth on the back of helmet. “If I were Topapa, I would’ve sent him just to teach you a lesson.”

“You are so cruel!” Luneth wailed.

As they walked into the house, Nina came running down the stairs. “Luneth! Arc! You’re home! Oh, thank Gaia alive, I missed you two! I’ll get lunch cooking, and you can tell me about your adventures then.”

“Our adventures are not finished yet, ma’am,” Ingus said.

“Oh dear, don’t tell me that! My precious children out fighting monsters and saving the world? It’s too much for a mother to think about!” She flitted off into the kitchen. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“We ate breakfast, but it was late in the morning. Arc was suffering from the remnants of a night terror—”

“Oh Arc!” Nina came rushing back and wrapped him in a hug. “You’re still having night terrors? Even with Luneth beside you? Have you tried the honeyed tea?”

“We don’t have any tea bags on our ship,” Refia said, looking concerned and already thinking about how to obtain some to help ease the terrors. “But we can find some. I wish I had known that: I could’ve made some for him.”

Nina looked her over carefully as she let go of Arc. “A right proper mother you’ll make someday, dear. These boys are lucky to have someone like you on their team.”

“She reminds us daily,” Luneth said, unamused.

“Well, you should remember it! Arc, dear, will you help me finish lunch? We can talk there, and Luneth can show this lovely young woman and your knight around.”

“Her name is Refia, and this is Ingus,” Arc said.

“I would prefer to remain here,” Ingus said softly, looking at Luneth, who gave a small nod.

“Are you sure, dear? If you truly want to, you can help us set the table. How does that sound? Come along!” Nina bustled Arc and Ingus off to the kitchen.

Topapa chuckled. “She is so excited that you’re home.”

Luneth laughed. “I can tell. Come on, Refia, I’ll show you around—even if there is almost nothing to see.”

Refia laughed as he took her hand and walked out the door.

An hour later, they were all seated around a small table, chatting gaily about the adventure. Luneth was telling them wild stories about different battles and creatures they fought with wild hand gestures, Refia snorting at the exaggerated details and Ingus trying to explain the truth of the matter. It was in moments like this that he found himself falling just a little more in love with his best friend. This was what the future was supposed to hold, right? This is what lovers should be like. This is what family was, talking and sharing warm memories, making new memories together. They talked well into the afternoon as they munched on the lunch that Nina and Arc had made for them. When the stories were finally trickling to a stop, Arc rose and looked at Ingus. He was feeling better now, and he wanted to get out and about, to revisit his old spots and enjoy the places that he used to.

“Would you like me to show you around Ur now?”

Ingus stood and nodded. “Please, I would enjoy a tour of this quiet village. It was never like this at Sassoon.”

“We’ll go, too—”

“Oh no you don’t,” Nina chastised, grabbing Luneth by the back of his armor. “You’re helping with the dishes.”

Arc smiled as they walked out the door. He took his time showing Ingus around and told stories about Luneth’s adventures. By the end of the tour, the sun was just barely peeking above the horizon, and Arc was standing by the lake where he used to press flowers. Ingus was beside him, gazing at the lake and enjoying the breeze.

“This is a beautiful village. I can see why you love living here. It would be nice.”

Arc smiled. “It’s—”

A rock whizzed by Arc’s ear, and with a strangled cry, he spun around to see the bullies emerging from the trees. Oh, that sent fear right down his spine, and he stepped back with a horrified noise.

“Look! Our favorite faggot is back!”

“Leave us alone,” Ingus said, moving in front of him. “We have no business with you.”

“But we have business with Arc.”

“I’m afraid that you don’t.”

“So this is your new bodyguard, Arc? He seems a bit too masculine for your tastes.”

“He’s in love with Luneth, ain’t he? There’s no kid as girly as him!”

Arc’s face was a brilliant red as looked away. Oh, now he remembered why returning was a bad idea. How could he… why was he stupid enough to think that coming back here was worthwhile? His hands covered his face as if to hide.

Ingus snarled and drew his Gungir lance out, crouching defensively. “Leave us be.”

“Look! He’s going shy! I think he’s cheating on his dear Luneth with this kid!”

Ingus roared and charged the bullies. They looked surprised, but laughed as they ran off.

“We’ll be back, freak! Just wait!”

When they were out of sight, Ingus returned to Arc’s side. The boy was crouched against the ground, covering his face. He knelt down and wrapped an arm around the mage’s shoulders.

“Those are the bullies?” he asked gently.

Arc adjusted to sit at the water’s edge and nodded glumly. Ingus sighed as he sat down, almost silent in the Dragoon armor. They sat and watched the sun go down. Arc loosened up in degrees, it seemed, the longer that he went without interaction, the easier the line in his shoulders was and the straighter he sat. There was a wistful longing on his face as he watched the pond and the sky. Ingus could easily see why Luneth would fall in love with someone as beautiful as Arc. Eventually, as the night drew later, Refia came over to them. The dragoon got up to greet her with a nod, and Arc offered a smile and a small wave.

“Luneth wants to talk to you, Ingus. I’ll stay here with Arc if he doesn’t want to leave yet.”

Ingus nodded as he walked off. Refia sat near Arc and looked up at the sky.

“It’s beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”

Arc smiled at her. “Yeah, it is. You should see it in the spring, when all the flowers are first beginning to emerge.”

Refia was silent for a moment. “Arc, I know you’re afraid, but why don’t you just blast the bullies with one good hit of flare or something when they tease you? It’ll cause them to leave you alone.”  
Arc stared over the lake. “I don’t want to hurt them. Besides, I’m not really much good for anything—”

“Arc, you need to stand up for yourself!”

He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. “I don’t… I can’t… I…”

“Arc, they’ve been provoking you for years. What more of a reason do you need?”

He shrugged. “I guess I’ll know when I snap.”

Refia sighed in frustration. “That’s not a good enough time frame. You need to tell them to back off now.”

“What about now? Who’s this cutie with you, another bodyguard?”

Arc stood up, horrified, to see the triplets there and far closer than they were with Ingus. They really were out to get him tonight, weren’t they? Why couldn’t they leave well enough alone? Refia rose and put her hands on her hips. Oh, these guys were going to taste the full effect of a holy at the rate that they were going. How heartless could they be?

“It’s you three. Why don’t you leave him alone?”

“Why shouldn’t we?”

“You should feel ashamed of yourselves, picking on someone who won’t fight back!”

They laughed.

“And miss out on a chance to hurt Luneth after what he did?” the leader said, cracking his knuckles and making Arc take a step back, shaking. “Arc ain’t no ‘Warrior of Light.’ He’s just a freak who likes to take it up the ass!”

The three bullies advanced as Refia huffed and called her Elder Staff forth.

“Looks like she’s gonna try to hurt us, boys. We can’t have that, can we?”

Two of the bullies stepped forward to grab Refia. The managed to get ahold of her jacket, and she shrieked like a liger, tearing herself free and swinging her staff to connect with one of the bullies’ cheeks. They snarled, ready for the fight and ready to overpower the devout, lunging and messing up her dress as they grabbed at her, and there were only a few seconds before one of them was met with a resounding smack to the face. He stumbled back with a star-shaped imprint on his face. The second bully stopped as Arc stood in front of Refia, trembling as he held his Omnirod. She already looked rumpled enough, her jacket skewed and her dress wonky, and he wasn’t going to let them harm her. They had no reason to touch her!

“L-leave he-her a-a-alone,” he whispered.

The leader of the bullies laughed, grinning maliciously as he stepped forward. “Well, well, looks like you aren’t as pathetic as we thought! That’s gonna leave a nasty bruise on his face, though.”

Arc swallowed and watched the bullies closely. When the leader lunged at him, he let out a strangled cry that sounded similar to “Flare!” as he scrambled backwards, knocking into Refia and taking them both into the pond. He watched as a deep well of magic exploded underneath the bullies’ feet and flared up around them. The pink and red waves of magic curved in at the top and crashed down upon the bullies. Refia gasped when the three were crushed beneath the brilliantly colored magic. The magic shoved out of the bottom and billowed up to the top before it finally disappeared.

Arc was shaking as his fingers curled into the muddy bottom of the lake, staring at the roughed-up boys as they slowly stood from the burns that Flare left upon their skin. It was the leader who managed to meet his gaze, and Arc panicked. That was not the look of a human. That was the look of a fiend! That was the look of something sent to _kill_ , and before he knew what he was doing, he was rising, Omnirod pointed to the sky as he called out, “Meteor!”

This wasn’t bullying. This was a fight, and he could feel the power drain from his body before the sky was alight with fire. Arc couldn’t keep the determined look from his face as he pulled it down from the heavens, listening to the scream that rang out as it plummeted to the earth. The three looked up just in time to see a large ball of rock come careening out of the sky, crashing directly into where the bullies once stood, rocking them both and getting a yelp from Refia. The rock disappeared in a blaze of brilliant fire, leaving a small crater in its wake as the village of Ur woke, scrambling about to see what was going on. Arc’s chest was heaving with the exertion needed for two high-level spells so quickly, and his hands were trembling from their white-knuckled grip on the staff.  
Refia was stunned for a few seconds, looking at the smoldering crater. It wasn’t until she heard a pained groan that she darted off, by the leader’s side and glancing him over quickly, assessing the damage done. When she was satisfied that they weren’t going to die, she stood up and walked over to Arc. She stood in front of him to try to get him to snap out of it.

“They’ll be okay, but they won’t be bothering you for a while.”

Arc just stared at them as Topapa and the others came running over. His shaking got worse as it settled into his mind that, yes, that just happened. He fought the bullies. He attempted to kill them. They tried to attack him and Refia. They tried to attack her.

“What happened?” Luneth yelled, running in from the direction of Nina’s house. He looked equal parts pissed and horrified, screeching to a stop at the edge of the water before wading in to put his hands on Arc’s and nudging Refia out of the way. He looked his friend in the eyes, noticing the semi-wild look that he sometimes got coming off the high of a battle.

“Arc? Arc, what happened?” Luneth asked, running his thumbs back and forth over his fingers to try to get them to relax.

“They tried to gang rape me!” Refia shrieked, looking every ounce the disheveled, panicked woman. “And they got lucky! I would’ve blasted them to bits with tornado and holy if Arc hadn’t stepped in!” She flailed her hands as she spoke. “Gang rape! Can you believe the nerve? They should be happy Arc just meteored them!”

There was a moment of silence from the others as Refia ranted, hastily trying to pull her clothes back together and look a little less disheveled. Topapa stared at them all as several of the villagers came forth and started picking up the boys. They would certainly need healing, but she wasn’t going to lift a finger to help them. She started rubbing at her eyes to start crying, then attempted to smooth her dress down and adjust her wet coat again. Maybe she was laying it on thick, but…

Topapa moved so that he could look at Arc. “Is this true? Or were you their true target?”

Arc glanced at the older man as Luneth pried his fingers off the weapon. He didn’t hear what the elder said, instead letting his weapon drop as he grabbed his friend’s clothing and buried himself in his arms. Topapa’s eyes widened, and he shook his head glumly. Arc could only bury his face into warm and familiar skin.

He felt his feet leave the ground, strong hands under his thighs. He wrapped his arms around Luneth’s neck and let him carry him back to land. He didn’t answer anything, instead just letting himself be comforted as it dawned on him that he tried to kill someone. No, he wasn’t ready for that revelation. He let the way that Luneth’s heart beat bring him calm, the way that he smelled fill his senses, the way that skin brought him warm, bring him some level of comfort. The fact that Luneth even bothered to stay with him made him feel slightly better about himself despite his bullies. Surely there was something worthwhile in him if his friend didn’t give up on him immediately.

“Arc! Refia! Oh, you poor dears!” Nina shouted as she came bustling over, gathering up the Warriors as if they were chocobo chicks.

The rest of the village gathered awkwardly around the area, a few peeking at the meteor crater. Such drama! They could hear the sounds of the villagers chattering and murmuring and trying to figure out what happened. Nina hugged Refia tightly when it became apparent that Luneth wasn’t going to let her hug Arc.

“They didn’t do anything to you, did they, dear?”

“No, ma’am, Arc saved me,” she chirped, letting her lip wobble. Nina held her close before looking at the two other boys.

“Arc, My baby! You’ve grown up so much, and you finally—”

“Nina,” Topapa said sternly, “we should not be excusing the use of violence in this town. The three children will be dealt with accordingly.”

“Oh,” Nina was bristling, “stuff it! Arc has finally stood up for himself! All these years of him being abused, and he’s finally striking back! We should be proud!” She puffed up and looked at Luneth. “Isn’t that right?”

Luneth grinned as he carried Arc toward the house. “Duh! I’m proud of him for it! We should celebrate! All these years of punishment not working is finally being repaid!”

Nina sent a stern glare at Topapa as she took Refia by the shoulders and gestured for Ingus to follow. “It’s about time.”

Arc shook violently in his friend’s arms. “What are they going to do next? They’re definitely going to do something. I can’t—I can’t believe that I did that—they’re going to kill me.”

Luneth shushed him, holding him a little tighter as he tried to help calm his friend. “Nothing, Arc. They can’t do a thing. We’re leaving tomorrow morning, okay? We won’t let them do anything to you.”

He adjusted his hold, carrying Arc into the bedroom where the four of them were sleeping. He continued to speak quietly to him as he helped him wash and dry, hanging up his magus outfit and wrapping him in warmer clothing before laying down beside him. Ingus and Refia watched the whole time, feeling as if they were intruding on a private moment. They shared the other small bed, listening as Luneth calmed him from his panic attack, talking to him until the dark knight was certain that his companion was asleep.

When morning rolled along, the four light warriors were saying goodbye and climbing aboard the Invincible. As the ship took off, Luneth wrapped an arm around Arc’s shoulders. He pulled him into a tight hug and stood there as the ship started flying off. They slept later than intended in a bid to let the mage get as much sleep as he could, and breakfast was a solemn affair. It was nice to be back on their ship. They shouldn’t have returned to Ur, but it was gratifying to know that Arc stood up for himself.

“I wish I had been there yesterday night,” he mentioned.

Refia giggled. “It was pretty awesome, now that I think about it. And Arc’s panic attack made it all so much more believable.”

“What do you mean?” Ingus asked.

“Gang rape was never their intention. They just wanted to hold me back for a clear shot at Arc.”

“What!” Luneth shouted. “The entire village believes you!”

“It’s easy to get others to believe it when accusing a man of touching a woman,” she huffed, frowning. “Especially men who have a track record like those kids.”

Arc looked down. “I shouldn’t have. I really shouldn’t have, but I didn’t want them to hurt Refia.”

“You’re adorable, Arc,” Refia said as she walked to the beds to flop down. “I’m just glad you lashed out.”

“They’re gonna beat me up when I get back. So bad I can’t ever walk again. What were they doing while we weren’t looking?” Arc whispered. “They had all that time in between everything. We didn’t lock up the airship and… we were… we were all busy… they could have done anything while we weren’t looking. They could have been preparing something…”

“They aren’t going to touch you,” Luneth said firmly. “We’ll go to Doga’s manor. And who cares were they were? They weren’t around us.”

Arc just shuddered and settled in for a long ride. Night settled in quickly, and Arc found himself curled up against Luneth. It was a gradual release that they noticed Arc underwent, slowly coming down from the panic of Ur. The farther that they went from their little hometown, the easier that their friend seemed to breath. When the next morning came, they were almost there. Arc found himself checking and rechecking their supplies and weapons until midevening when they arrived at the Ancients’ Maze.

“All right! We’re here! We can do this, guys! Time to save the world!” Luneth cheered, happy to not mention Ur and continue thinking to the future instead. “We’re all stocked up, and everything is good now! Come on!”

The next few hours passed quickly as they stumbled and laughed their way through the maze. Arc led them through quickly: his photographic memory recalled every dead end. They came out of the maze practically unhurt, and a gay mood had settled over them. The crystal tower loomed over them, twinkling in the sunlight, and the forest around them was teeming with life. There was a nervous sort-of energy about them, buzzing through them and making them titter as they horsed around. The tower gave them a clear direction to head through the little forested area.

“Look!” Arc exclaimed and pointed at a small hole between a tree’s roots.

“What about it?” Refia asked.

“It’s an iron claw nest. They use these kinds of nests to have young, and will often leave the burrow after their babies are born.”

“No way!” Luneth exclaimed, coming over to look at it. “How do you know this? Was it in one of the books you read?”

“Yeah, a book about monsters.”

“That was the one that gave you nightmares for a month!”

Arc flushed and looked away. He remembered that? Of course he did. They slept together almost every night! “Yeah. But it was a good book… This must be a central hub for monsters. There’s some King Behemoth tracks, too! Look!”

He got sidetracked from that, and they ended up looking at all the tracks surrounding them. They found some edible berries and plants that they could use for dinner, and by that point? It was all downhill from there. They weren’t going to make it any farther before the sun set. Shortly after deciding that there was no way that anything else would get done, a liger attacked, and when it fell over dead, Refia stopped and pulled out the small spell package to create a cottage. Arc was pouring a potion over a shoulder injury Luneth received as the cottage was set up. After the worst of the bleeding stopped and most of the injury had resealed, Arc set about creating a fire to cook their dinner.

“Why don’t you use the utilities inside, Arc?” Refia asked.

“I enjoy the flavor the smoke adds to the food, and I requested Arc cook our food outside tonight,” Ingus said as he came over and sat down by the fire.

Arc smiled softly and continued cooking. After he finished, he took the bowls from their packs and let them get their food. Dinner passed quickly, and soon, they were huddled around the fire, laughing and passing the time away before they wanted to go to bed. Finally, when the moon was at its highest point, they began to get ready. As they headed toward the door, Arc reached into his robes and pulled out a potion and turned to the knight. He might not be too useful in terms of protecting Luneth, but he would do what he could! He owed it to Luneth to take care of him, especially given how much the knight took care of him.

“Luneth, drink this to heal the rest of your wound. It’ll keep it from being sore in the morning.”

Luneth stopped and looked at it briefly. He grinned. “You’re always taking care of me, aren’t you?”

Arc blushed. “I—I’m only repaying—”

“I know; I know,” Luneth said with a grin as he took the vial and popped it open.

Refia stuck her head out of the doorway of the cottage. “You guys coming in?”

Arc nodded, “I gave Luneth a second potion to drink. He’s gonna need to be fully healed if we’re going into the Crystal Tower tomorrow.”

Refia smiled at him as Luneth began to chug the potion. Halfway through the potion, Luneth stopped and made a face.

“What is it?” Arc said.

“This doesn’t taste like the potions I’m used to.”

“It is a regular potion,” the mage insisted, frowning as Luneth licked his lips and peered at the potion as if it grew six legs and five heads. “Or, at least, it should be.”

“No, I mean, it doesn’t taste like… It’s different. I’ve tasted this before, and not in a potion.”

Arc studied Luneth carefully. He watched as Luneth took a tiny, smaller sip. He could see him trying to figure out where he tasted it before. Arc took the potion and sniffed it. Refia leaned over and smelled it as well.

“It smells the same,” she said, frowning as she looked between the two.

Ingus came outside, raising an eyebrow at the gathering. “What are we still doing outside? I thought that we were preparing for the night.”

Arc blinked and looked at the Dragoon, nodding. “We are, but there was just a problem with a potion. It doesn’t taste right.”

Luneth paled and began to tremble. “Crap.”

“What?” Arc asked, placing a hand on his best friend’s shoulder.

“It’s an impulse potion,” he whispered, his hand flying to Arc’s and squeezing it.

“What?” Ingus backed up a step.

“It’s an impulse potion.” Luneth dropped the bottle as he reached out and grabbed Arc’s face. “Arc, run.”

Arc stepped back, away from his friend, looking mildly afraid. “W-what?”

“For your own damn sake,” he snarled, lunging, only to be caught by Ingus. He threw himself against Ingus’s hold. “Take Refia and run! Now! Get out of my sight!” Luneth snarled at him, then recoiled in horror at how violent he sounded.

Without a second thought, Arc grabbed Refia’s hand and drug her off, taking off full speed down the pathway they had come from.

“Get out of here, Ingus!” Luneth shouted at him.

Ingus stared into his eyes as Luneth’s pupils dilated. “My job is to protect my comrades and all I stand for. I will not allow you to continue with intentions of harming Arc.”

The two mages could hear as Luneth growled and drew his sword. “It would never be the pain you’re expecting.”

“What’s going on, Arc?” Refia whispered as Arc pulled her along.

“I—I don’t know.”

How could he know? It was Luneth! Luneth who told him to run! Luneth who promised to protect him! Tears stung at the corner of his eyes, hot and heavy, trying to fall as he ran. He had to be strong. He had to get Refia to safety first. He needed to… he needed to get them out of here. They ran down the path, completely out of breath, heaving for air, through the winding trees, before Arc stopped in front of a tree.

“What are we doing here?” Refia asked.

Arc held a frenzied finger to his lips and pulled her down to the ground. “It—it’s the iron claw burrow.”

He lay down on his stomach and wriggled backwards into the tiny hole, disappearing in the darkness. Refia glanced about and followed suit, finding herself smooshed against Arc. She settled back as Arc wrapped his arms around her waist and fidgeted slightly. She could feel him trembling violently, and as terribly as she wanted to know, she bit her lip to refrain from asking why he seemed so upset. They jumped when a few minutes later when they heard a loud battle cry coming from the direction of the camp.

“Do you think he’s fighting Ingus?”

Arc nodded, and hot tears began to fall on her skin. How could he be expected to stay sane and positive when the very man who promised to protect him was now out for his blood? He had to be out for his blood! Was he finally fed up that Arc couldn’t defend himself? Or maybe he was mad that Arc did defend himself? It broke his heart to think that Luneth was so violently fed up with him.

“What’s wrong? Hey, don’t cry. Arc, it’ll be okay. You don’t need to worry about anything.”

Arc’s face twisted up into a painful expression, sniffling as he adjusted to rub his eyes on his sleeve. “D-didn’t you h-hear what he said to me? He sai-aid t-to run for-or my own sake and get out of his sight. I-I… don’t… I-I think he-he rea-eally—I think he… I think he was gonna attack me.”

Refia turned her head and kissed Arc’s nose. “He would never do that. He must have had some reason. Perhaps he didn’t want you to be present in case anything bad happened.”

Arc just shook his head as the sound of clanging rang through the forest. He clung tightly to Refia as the fighting continued, fighting himself to stay awake, but his own body was betraying him, exhausting the supply of adrenaline that he had and dragging him down with it. It wasn’t too long before Refia fell into a fitful sleep, but her steady breathing helped to partially soothe his frazzled nerves and give him a chance to calm himself.

He didn’t know when, but he woke to the feel of someone shaking him urgently. His eyes flew open, and he saw Refia, eyes wide and panicky. She held her finger to her lips, and slowly, painfully, he focused his attention on the hollow’s entrance.

“Arc! Where are you?”

Arc froze: he knew that voice too well. His breathing picked up a notch.

“Arc! Come out! We need to talk!” He sounded far too desperate, almost pleading, in a way that he only ever sounded when he was trying to get Arc to agree to something hare-brained. He peeked through the entrance and saw Luneth standing a ways away from the tree. 

“Damnit,” he muttered, “where was that fucking bullshit place he pointed out earlier?”

“Arc! I know you’re around here!” Arc cringed at the aggravation in his voice. “Get your sorry ass out here so that we can have some fun together!”

With a snarl, Luneth threw the helmet in his hands to the ground. He kicked the blood-spattered Dragoon armor from the path before punching a tree. Refia put a hand over her mouth when she saw the blood stains on it.

“Come out, Arc. Or Ingus will die. You don’t want that, do you? Refia?” Arc heard the desperation in his voice. “It must have been farther down the road. Fuck.” He darted off. “Come out, come out, where ever you are!”

Arc squirmed and looked at Refia. “We have to get to Ingus.”

She nodded and looked after Luneth. “We can’t let him die! Look at the helmet!”

Arc grew solemn. “I—I think I… I have plan.”

He helped push Refia out of the burrow and crawled out after her. When they were standing in the shadows of the wood, Arc took her hands in his and swallowed nervously.

“I—I’ll be a dis—distraction. He—he’s looking—looking f-for-or me, right? You-you run as fast—as fast as you can t—to Ingus and get inside the cottage, okay?”

Refia shook her head. “No. We’ve got to get there together.”

They took off running down the path. It wasn’t long before another set of pounding footsteps was heard. Arc looked over his shoulder at Luneth as he quickly gained on them. He looked at Refia as they ran. “You go on. Y—you’re the Devout.”

With that, he drew forth his Omnirod and faced Luneth. Refia stopped and looked at him.

“Arc, you’re crazy!”

“I—He—I can hold my own for a b—bit. Just get Ingus inside.”

Refia turned and ran as the other was tackled to the ground. Arc trembled when he saw the predatory gleam in his friend’s eyes. He began to call forth a meteor, silenced when Luneth kissed him with a desperate hunger. Arc was in a daze as Luneth tore off his own armor and threw it to the side, and finally, he snapped out of it with another kiss. He struggled wildly as heated kisses were pressed to his bare skin, and when what was happening registered, Arc willing submitted to the “attack.”

He gasped in pleasure as he threaded his fingers through his hair, tipping his head back as his hat fell awkwardly to the side. His scarf was torn off and tossed aside, jacket pushed open and he couldn’t help but arch into the feeling of Luneth’s hands on his skin. He let out a soft whimper as one of his thumbs moved over his nipple, and he curled his fingers in his hair tightly to drag him down for another kiss. Oh, that felt good.

His partner pulled away abruptly, looking shocked, and Arc became acutely aware of their state. He was half-undressed and hard in the middle of a forest path, and the knight was out of his armor, hair falling out of his pony tail. He blushed brilliantly as Luneth gave a happy, feral grin.

“You wanted this, didn’t you?” Hands slammed down on either side of his head, and he gasped as the sheer intensity in those purple eyes. “How long have you wanted—”

“Forever,” he murmured, looking away in shame. “You’re the only one that I want.”

He closed his eyes at the sweet, almost loving kiss that was pressed against his lips. Hands moved down to undo his pants, and he squeaked when Luneth tugged his pants off. How did this work? He wasn’t the most knowledgeable about these kinds of things instead putting his brain to work with reading whatever he could and figuring out how things worked. The man looked ravenous as he procured a potion and uncorked it to pour some on his fingers.

“Part of me really wants to just fuck you, but I think that I wanna feel you first. Fuck, you look so much better than my fantasies.”

He couldn’t speak before Luneth was back, attacking his neck, leaving marks on pale skin. His voice left him in a whimper, and he pushed his hands back through silver hair, yelping when he felt two fingers push into his entrance, and that tongue dove into his mouth to thoroughly claim him. His mind was hazy with pleasure, and he wasn’t sure how to go about this.

Thankfully, Luneth did, scissoring him open and slipping in a third finger before too long. He whined, arching into the touch, pushing his chest against his friend’s and opening his mouth for another kiss. Nevermind that he didn’t know what he was doing. It felt good, and Luneth was making these little noises in the back of his throat, and there was a little time to appreciate the man kissing him before he gasped, eyes flying open, moaning as he tipped his head back.

“L-Luneth!”

“Found it,” he purred, pressing up against that spot inside of him again, making him arch with pleasure, gasping.

His voice left him in a whine as he shook beneath him. They were stretching him open, preparing him, and he couldn’t help the quiet moans that left him. Luneth’s name left his lips like a prayer, chasing the feelings that those fingers were bringing him. He didn’t have much longer before he felt those fingers leaving him, and he whined softly.

“It’ll be okay, baby,” Luneth purred, reaching down and pulling himself out of his pants.

Arc yelped when he felt his legs pulled up to hook over his lover’s shoulders, and he found himself trembling as he felt something much bigger press between his cheeks. He looked up to meet Luneth’s gaze, and the man was looking at him like a liger. Arc was definitely the prey.

“It’ll feel real good, Arc; I promise. I’ll make you feel so good,” Luneth murmured, pushing in as he kissed him.

It was a nice distraction from the rough entrance, from the way that he was folded in half, and it felt like Luneth’s hands were everywhere as his own fingers slid back through silver hair. He wasn’t even sure what was going on as he felt Luneth push in and in and in, and he whined into the kiss. Oh, he felt so much fuller than he could have imagined. When his partner was finally all the way in, Arc found himself moving his legs with some help to lock around the knight’s waist. The first thrust brushed against his prostate, and he couldn’t help the pleased groan that left his lips. If this was what sex felt like, he definitely wanted it again. He moved into the thrust as best that he could, biting his lip at the sheer sensations that he felt.

Luneth, meanwhile, was busy whispering absolutely filthy things in his ear, describing all the things that he dreamed of doing with him, all the ways that he wanted to touch him, all the places he wanted to kiss. He never imagined most of the things that he was saying, but he wanted all of it. He didn’t want this to end, even as rough as it was, and it felt good.

It didn’t take much before Arc was crying out Luneth’s name, coming hard as the other boy kept going. He moaned in overstimulation, whimpering as his partner raced toward the finish line. When he finally came, Luneth let his head fall forward, moaning his name, and it was an odd sensation to have cum filling him. Either way, he was panting as Luneth gathered him in his arms and continued to scatter kisses across his skin and on his lips. When he started to squirm, the arms around him tightened.

“I’m not done with you yet,” was growled into his ear, and he shuddered.

Oh… this was going to be a night to remember. He reached up to card his hands through silver locks, and he whimpered as Luneth shifted, still inside him and not willing to pull out. He hadn’t even considered this possibility, happy to keep his most shameful dreams as nothing more than brief kisses and lingering touches, murmurings of love exchanged in the dark of night. He was always afraid to say anything, more afraid of being a burden upon his friend rather than anything else. This, though… this was… Even if Luneth didn’t remember it, it was going to be wonderful memory to hold onto.

When the door to the cottage opened sometime later, Refia looked up. Her magic was spent, and she was exhausted, but Ingus would be waking up to see the morning sun.

“Arc?” she called out as she ran out to the tiny front room.

Arc turned to look at her, dragging Luneth by the armpits, his armor sloppily put on, and his own robes skewed and dirtied.

“Arc!” She gasped. “What happened?”

Arc shook his head and drug Luneth back into the second bedroom. Refia followed after him. He hoped that his limp wasn’t noticeable in comparison to how dirty he was. He felt awful. He shouldn’t have let Luneth take advantage of him like that, but it felt so good, in ways that he never realized could even happen, and it made him feel as if his best friend really didn’t think he was actually a burden upon him. He was going to be sore, for sure, but he felt wonderful when Luneth just had his way with him, and even when he wasn’t in control of himself, he was still impulsively driven to make sure that Arc still felt pleasure. How would he look Luneth in the eyes tomorrow knowing what he let the man do to him?

“You’re a mess! Your hair is all messy; you’re covered in dirt; and your eyes! How long have you been crying? What did he do to you?”

Arc winced. “I—it’s n—nothing. It’s m—my fault.”

Refia was by his side. “You need a nice bath and a warm meal. Here, I’ll fix you a meal while you take a bath. I can come with you so that you can bathe.”

Arc shook his head as he lay down on the mattress opposite Luneth’s. “Just—just leave.”

“Are you sure?” She hesitated at the door.

“G—go.”

She exited slowly and sighed, leaning against the door. She looked across the hall to see Ingus watching her.

“What happened?”

She pushed off and walked over to him. “What did you say?”

“What happened?”

She sat on the bed across from him. “I don’t know. He came in filthy and crying and refuses to talk about it.”

“I fear I know what happened.” Ingus struggled to sit up but was pushed back down.

“What? What did he say?”

“Think about their relationship, Refia. The bond that they share runs far deeper than any pair of brothers. There is no personal bubble for either of them. They share the same bed almost every night, and they are always watching each other.”

Refia sighed. “Okay?”

“And when Luneth spoke, he said the pain that he would inflict upon Arc is the type I would never imagine.”

Refia’s eyes widened. “You mean, they’re…”

Ingus met her gaze with a solemn expression.

“Wait a second, you’re saying that Luneth—Luneth…”

“Luneth raped Arc under the influence of the Impulse Potion.”

“Gaia alive, you’re right!” Refia gasped, stood up, and started to the door.

“Refia!” he barked, the voice of a soldier instead of a companion. “Sit down. We can’t do anything at this point.”

She stopped, looked at Ingus, and twisted her hands while sighing, frustrated.

“Rest, we’ll think tomorrow.”

Ingus fell asleep quickly, the exhaustion from the fight and the strain of his wounds taking its toll, but Refia slept fitfully. How could she want to sleep when such horrible things happened? She wanted to help, wanted to bring them comfort. It wasn’t until the wee hours of morning that she managed to drift off. When morning crawling around, she was startled awake by the sound of Luneth bursting through the door.

“Where’s Arc? Is he still hiding?”

She shot up and looked at him. “He’s gone? He dragged you back after you—after you…”

She climbed out of bed and pushed past Luneth to check their room. When she saw the empty bed, she cried out and ran to the door, flinging it open to be met with a terrible storm. When did this roll in? How had this rolled in? How could they feasibly find Arc in a storm like this? She closed the door to keep the rain out at least momentarily, until they could figure out what to do.

She squeaked as Luneth turned her around and pinned her to the wall. “What did I do to him yesterday?”

“We’re-we’re not sure, but we have a pretty good idea.”

“Then spit it out and tell me!”

Refia breathed a sigh of relief when Ingus came hobbling out, and Luneth spun to see him.

“And I’m the cause of that, too, huh?”

Ingus nodded.

“What did I do to Arc.”

“We have reason to believe that you raped him.”

Luneth’s eyes grew wide at the statement. When it finally sunk in, he let out a wounded noise, sinking to his knees. “N—no.”

Ingus looked at him solemnly. Luneth pounded the floor with a fist before slamming his forehead on it.

“He’ll never speak to me now! I should’ve believed him when he was suspicious of the bullies’ behavior!”

Refia was by his side. “Luneth, stop. Arc’s a rational person. I’m sure—”

“With how shy he is? No, he’s gonna avoid me like a plague!”

The rest of the day was spent trying to convince Luneth that Arc would, indeed, talk to him. The storm raged well into three days, and with each passing hour Luneth was cooped up inside of the cottage, he became increasingly depressed. Arc still hadn’t come back. Luneth spent the hours in the room, lying on the bed. His energy that drove the team seemed to have disappeared. On the evening of the third day, Refia walked into Luneth’s room as he sat on the bed. She held out to him a covered bowl of food and a canteen of water.

“Go find him,” she commanded.

Luneth continued to stare at the wall listlessly.

“Get off your butt and find him.”

“You,” he murmured, curling into the fetal position.

“No. You. You know him better. Find him and talk to him.”

“In this storm?”

“Yes. He’s probably freezing cold and dying of pneumonia. Find him, bring him back, and we’ll work through things.”

Luneth looked at the food and the canteen. “He’s probably better off dead after what I did.”

“Luneth!” Refia screeched. “He’s still your friend! Even if he doesn’t want to talk to you, you could at least try to make amends! Get off your lazy ass and go find him! I don’t want you moping around here when Arc could be out in that storm, letting himself get torn up by all sorts of unimaginable creatures!”

It took him a few moments to even muster the energy to stir, and he eventually slumped as he sat up. Luneth rose wearily and took the food and water. Was this really what he was supposed to do? Would Arc really forgive him? Would he be able to salvage anything of their friendship? He felt sick to his stomach. It took several minutes before trudging to the door and opening it. Then, he turned back and walked to their supplies, opening the bottles carefully and tasting every potion.

“What are you doing?” Refia sighed as she closed the door to keep the rain out. “Stop stalling.”

“I’m checking to see if these are real potions.”

Finally, he pocketed ten of them, rose a second time, changed into his armor, and headed out into the thunderstorm. Luneth stood in the woods with the covered bowl in his hands and the canteen around his waist.

“I’m so sorry, Arc,” he muttered to the howling wind.

He let his feet guide him as he searched for Arc, until finally, he stood at the base of the Ancients’ Maze, soaking wet and freezing. Surely he wasn’t there in the maze. Surely he wasn’t. No.. that wasn’t Arc’s type of retreat. He glanced up, looking at the top of the maze. Surely… no, Arc would have found a way onto the top of the maze. There was no other way.

“Here goes nothing,” he said as he took the top off the food and pulled out a potion from his pocket to pop the top. He poured a small amount into the food. “Let this work.”

Changing briefly into the Dragoon armor, he leapt up onto the maze’s roof and started toward the small figure in the distance. His armor changed back into the Dark Knight’s before he reached him, however, wanting to make sure that he was in something sturdy during the confrontation. He finally reached the hunched over figure and stood by his side.

“Refia told me to find you and bring you food.”

He set the plate down and straightened back up. He didn’t sit beside him, didn’t move to comfort him, didn’t even fight the rain. He just stood there behind his old friend and hoped that this would work. After several minutes, Arc reached over and took the plate. He eyed the food carefully as he took the top off, completely oblivious to the pouring rain. Luneth watched him as he ate, and when the majority of the food was gone, Luneth bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, Arc. Really. I hope you’ll forgive me. You probably hate me, but I brought you my form of apology.”

Luneth took a step back and spread his arms wide as if he were inviting the lightening to hit him. “Show me how you feel.”

It was seconds before there was a thud as Luneth went skidding across the concrete roof. He groaned in pain as he reached up and touched his jaw, pulling a knife from the deep gash. In a second, Arc, dressed in the ninja outfit, was in front of him, glaring down at him.

“Hate you? You think I hate you, Luneth?”

Luneth shuddered at the low hiss that left his friend. Arc jerked back and clasped his hand over his mouth. Yup. It worked. Hopefully this would get to the bottom of the problem. He never realized that Arc’s training in the ninja outfit could pack such a punch, though.

“You—you cheat! You fed me an Impulse Potion!”

Luneth struggled to stand up against the wind and felt the blood trickling down into his armor: speaking was going to be tough. “It’s the only way to get you to talk.”

He grunted when Arc kneed him in the stomach and elbowed him in the back before pushing him away. Arc jumped back a bit.

“I don’t hate you! I could never hate you! You’re the only one that’s been there for most of my life, and you expect hatred from me?”

“I-I… ruined our friendship,” Luneth told him as he sat. “Ingus told me what I did to you—"

“How does Ingus know what you did? He wasn’t fucking there, you asswipe! All these years you’ve been my only friend.” His hands were fisting in his hair, and Luneth worried that he would pull his own hair out. He tried to get up to stop him but was met with violent push to keep him sitting. “I could never hate you. Never. I’ve always wanted to be you. You’re everything, Luneth! Handsome, strong, courageous! I’ve never been any of those! I could never hate you! I could’ve stopped you if I tried! If I—”

“You wouldn’t have tried.”

Arc glared at him, and he watched as his best friend started to dig his nails into the skin of his arm and leave deep gashes. “If I wanted to! I could’ve blasted you with a spell or beaten you with a stick, but I didn’t! I let you have your way with me because it felt good! I enjoyed it! I took advantage of your drugged-up state! I could’ve stopped you if I wanted to! I don’t know why you chose to take your lust out on me, but I didn’t mind at all! I know I’m nothing like you. I’m not a social butterfly; I’m not physically active; I’m not good-looking.”

He wrapped his arms around his middle and crouched over, shaking his head. Was Arc… crying? He moved closer slowly, on his hands and knees. Arc backhanded Luneth across the wound to send him sprawling and stared down while scratching at his arms again as Luneth struggled to sit up.

“I wasn’t upset with you. I was upset with myself. I’ve always admired you and looked up to you. I wanted you to myself. I got you to myself. I wanted more. It tore me apart to think that you would go off on an adventure and find some lovely young woman to marry and have kids with because I knew I couldn’t give you what you wanted. The priestess Aria was the worst. I felt terrible when she died, though, because I thought you might have found someone you could live with forever. I hate Aria. I hate myself for hating Aria. It’s not fair that you have to stay here and protect me when you could be off having better adventures with someone else!”

Luneth struggled to get his helmet off. When he did, the wind ruffled the feather slightly, calmer than before. He stood and walked over, approaching carefully. He knelt down by his friend, looking at the hunched over, crying figure, only to be surprised when brown eyes jerked up to meet his, a gasp leaving the ninja’s mouth. Arc took off his mouth cover and rose to softly dab at the blood.

“I can’t hate you. I love you, Luneth, which I know is impossible, because we’re just teenagers, and we can’t know love quite like adults can because of hormones, but I love you anyway. You don’t have to hate yourself for what you did. I thought that it would be the only change that I’d get with you because you’re so perfect and I’m just pathetic, so I took advantage of everything that you by letting you do everything that you wanted just because I knew that eventually you would find someone as perfect as you to love you. It’s me who needs to be blamed, but just don’t stop being my friend, will you? I can’t—I couldn’t live with myself if… if you stopped being my friend because I took advantage of you while you were under the influence of a drug.”

Arc paused briefly and undid his sash. He tore it in half. Luneth chuckled slightly, stopping Arc’s hand as he started to ball up the cloth.

“I think I will,” he whispered.

Arc froze, eyes horrified, fingers clenching around the wad.

“This seems like a much more inviting offer.”

Despite the pain in his jaw, Luneth leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to Arc’s lips. Arc immediately returned it and jerked back when Luneth winced.

“Right, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Luneth. I really shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry. I should be bandaging up your jaw.” He pressed half of the sash to Luneth’s wound. “Can you hold that in place?” Luneth obliged, and Arc began to tie the other half around his head to keep the cloth in place. “I should’ve been more careful. Here you are in pain because I couldn’t control myself. What kind of a friend is that? I’m a terrible person. You’re suffering, and I’m blathering about nothing. I should’ve been helping you. Really, I should’ve. We need to get you to Refia.”

Luneth chuckled quietly again. “You’re awfully chatty when you act on impulse. Thoughts never stop in that brain of yours, do they?”

“Generally they don’t,” Arc said, leaning back a tad as he finished tying the sash. “I’m just so much more apt to think than do anything and—”

“You look terrible, Arc. Aren’t you tired?”

“I haven’t slept ever since the incident. I’ve been up here the entire time because I was so afraid of what you would think if you found out that you were just horny and I loved every minute of what you did because I wanted all of it with you and no one else—”

Luneth leaned forward and wrapped Arc in a hug. Arc jerked slightly, but nevertheless, nuzzled against him while wrapping his arms around his neck. Luneth put his hands beneath his thighs and hoisted him up, walking to the edge of the wall as Arc fell asleep. It was then, and only then, that he realized how quiet the world around them was. He glanced at the quiet forest in front of him. Though still cloudy, the rain was gone.

“Did you…” Luneth blinked at the idea that maybe Arc created the entire thing to keep the others away using his skills in black magic. “Huh…”

Without a second thought, he leapt from the wall and began to walk back to the cottage. Refia and Ingus were asleep when he returned and set Arc down. Then, he pulled out the rest of the Impulse Potion he had and looked at it.

“Perhaps the bullies finally did something right.”

He didn’t let himself think, throwing it into the forest to let the blasted liquid seep into the ground instead of causing more mischief for them.

When morning rolled around, Arc found himself curled up against Luneth. Memories of last night came flooding back to him, and while he couldn’t understand what was being said, he figured out what must have passed between them. There must have been more of that impulse potion than they realized. All he could really remember were words, so many words, so many, many words. Luneth yawned beside him and immediately groaned in pain. Arc shot up and looked down to see Luneth lightly touching the bloody cloth.

“L—Luneth?”

Luneth smiled slightly and sat up. Arc sprinted out of bed and went to get some of the bandages and gauze, only to nearly trip over his own feet as he immediately set about rebandaging the wound.

“L—last night…”

Luneth stilled Arc’s hands and looked him in the eye. “I love you, Arc. Stop feeling so bad.”

Arc turned a brilliant shade of red. “I—I was really out character last night.”

Luneth nodded. “But you said what needed to be said… Plus, I wouldn’t really mind you talking more. I like your voice, you know? The best part about sharing a bed was when you would tell me stories that you read.”

Arc looked down, then set about redressing the wound again after recollecting his thoughts. By the time he was done, Refia was peeking in.

“Good, you found him.” She scrunched up her face. “And both of you desperately need to get cleaned.”

“We’ll need to let Luneth’s injuries heal,” Arc said. “I—is that okay?”

“What happened?” Refia asked, stepping in as Luneth gave a huge grin and immediately hissed in pain.

“We got a bunch of stuff set to rights,” the silver-headed boy said cheekily. “For better than anything we expected!”

Refia looked at the injury. “How bad are they? Get cleaned off, and I’ll heal them for you. How are you, Arc? Is everything…”

Arc turned bright red, and Luneth tried to contained the smile as he leaned in to place a gentle kiss against pale skin.

“Turns out, we’re boyfriends now!” Luneth chirped.

Refia’s expression morphed into surprise. Arc nodded, trying to hide the small smile that he was wearing as his face turned red. He smiled softly at Arc and pulled him into a hug. Refia stood there in shock for a few seconds before she put her hands on her hips.

“Well…”

Luneth snickered. “We both thought that we took advantage of the other. We’ve just been farting about for a long time now. All we needed was a push!”

Refia paused, then wrinkled her nose. “Oh no. Ingus and I won’t sleep ever again with you two, will we?”

Arc sputtered, and Luneth laughed before flinching, and Refia moved in to heal the injury quickly. It was the silver-haired boy that winked playfully at her. “Don’t worry! We’ll both be quiet about it! Just don’t think too hard about what we might be doing—”

“I do not need to hear any of this!” she shrieked, fleeing the room. Silence settled in for a few moments the two resting against each other, neither one wanting to move. The tension from before was gone, the little details all worked out so far. Things weren’t as bad as they thought they would have been.

“Doga’s manor doesn’t sound like such a bad place,” Arc said quietly.

“We can be alone with each other,” Luneth said as Arc kissed him lightly on the lips. Then with a wink and his old mischievous grin, he added, “And see what happens when you touch a moogle’s pom-pom.”


End file.
